


The Coldest Cage

by WesternRose



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Needs Help, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Needs a Hug, Cold, Everyone Needs A Hug, Forevver Alone, Hot Mess Adrien Agreste, Hurt Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Loneliness, Other, Paris (City), Possibly Unrequited Love, Psychology, Running, Unrequited Love, Unresolved Feelings, confident ladybug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:54:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27479140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WesternRose/pseuds/WesternRose
Summary: As Adrien Agreste leaps from rooftop to rooftop as Chat Noir, he is forced to face the most terrible enemy he has ever had to battle alone:Himself.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 1
Kudos: 37





	The Coldest Cage

...

The rooftops were steep but his thoughts ran even steeper. His heels kicked up the dirt on the shingles as he leaped from roof to roof. The pole tightly grasped in his hands, he jumped. Soaring through the air, his ruffled hair turned wild, just as his grin switched like a light from idle to iridescent. 

The world was only what was in front of him, flashing by the corner of his eyes in blurs of colors. There is no other world he would rather be consumed by.

Freedom, freedom, flight! A bird that will never cease its endless delight in its life in the air. The bird that reaches for the clouds will always feel light. Adrien is that bird. 

It’s not that he feels trapped. But he does; that is, feel trapped. It almost pains him to admit it. Adrien isn’t an idiot, or at least, he hopes he’s not. He’s traveled the world, fashion shows left and right. He’s been contained and carefully captured in his every visit to anywhere. Whenever his father and he would leave the country, the blonde boy has always found a way to sneak away, at least for a bit. He would slip into the shadows like spirit banished. He would creep into the streets, cobble, concrete, and dirt all alike. He would whisper prayers as he tiptoed over the treasure that was Paris. 

Adrein felt alone. So desperately and terribly alone. The loneliness took hold of his innocent heart and sunk its claws so deep into it that he could feel the pricks of loneliness resonating from the deepest parts within him. With his father always away and Nathalie with her cold briskness, Adrien was cold. The manor was cold; sterile floors that glowed and ceilings that loomed high over the inhabitants of the house. Everything was; well, what it was. Adrien struggles with making real connections to his classmates and everybody seemed so different from him. Adrien felt like he lived in a whole other world then his classmates. 

But none of that mattered when he leapt from rooftop to rooftop during twilight. The flickering candles of the Paris streets gently waved to him as he practically flew through the night sky. Here, he could be free. In leather as dark as the sky he felt at one with the world and with himself. Here, he didn't have to be Adrien; the untouchable model who was homeschooled his whole life. No, instead he could be Chat Noir, savior and hero of Paris. He was a man of his own, someone who stood up for all those who were hurting and did his best to help them. And of course as Chat Noir he never felt alone. 

Then there was his Lady, his miraculous, show-stopping Lady. Every time his eyes landed on her or if he heard her confident voice, or if his gloved hands brushed against hers… His heart could just leap right out of his chest. Her eyes were as bright as the hottest of stars; blue, blistering, sparkling, and so, so tempting. At her side he felt at home; in fact, she was more his home and then house he lived in. His lady didn't know that, though. He wished she would. 

Sometimes Adrien would think about running away with his Bugaboo; in class, during fencing lessons, during his nightly patrols. Like tonight. He imagines what his face would look like maskless as they would both run far far away from Paris. They could be whoever they wanted to be together. Ladybug and Chat Noir, or Adrien and whoever is under that mask. 

That's not such a terrible thing to want, right? 

It's okay, wanting to be held, to be loved, to be thought of. Adrien couldn't help but feel a bit guilty when thinking these things. He wishes he knew why, but he can't think of a reason as to why he would feel bad for thinking these things. 

The leather-clad superhero stops abruptly from his sprinting, the force of his stop almost knocking him down. The flat room on which he stood was littered with pebbles that shifted gently as he stood. 

Adrien tilted his head up and up and up until all that he could see was the night sky. The streetlights below were but a distant memory when he was staring up at the infinite universe before him. The stars were just tiny specks flickering in and out of his vision. How could those stars shine so brightly and be so large while he stood here, as tiny and insignificant as could be? 

As he stood, haunting thoughts tried to push their way into the front of his mind, questions like:

Does my father actually love me?

Will I ever fit in?

Will Ladybug ever return my feelings?

Will I ever just get to be myself?

These thoughts pushed as hard as they could but Adrien shut them away with a practiced Persian into a little box that sat In the deepest depths of his mind. But what he was then left with was a dull, throbbing emptiness that stole the air from his lungs.

Unceremoniously, he suddenly dropped to his knees with a crackling thud, the gravel digging into his covered knees. His arms folded in to hold himself, his claws digging into his shoulders. 

“My Lady,” he whispered into the wind, still staring blankly at the flickering stars.

“My Lady!” He yelled out. “What are I supposed to do; nothing feels right anymore! Nothing feels right when you aren’t by my side!” His howles started to become lost in the strengthening winds. “I can’t do this, my Lady, please, please!”

“I just don’t want to feel alone, please, my Lady, don’t leave me alone.” 

Delicate tears that shined just as bright as the stars fell from his mask to his chin, then falling dead onto the graveled roof. His lower lip trembled slightly as he gasped and heaved out and in all of the stinging frigid air he could.

The city slept as he sat there on his knees and sobbed. 

He still felt cold. 

...  
End

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little one shot to soothe the soul. 
> 
> Love y’all and stay safe:)
> 
> \- Rose


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